Defendant in Coolbaugh Township double murder says 'Italians' did it

The man charged with fatally shooting two other men in Coolbaugh Township Park in August says someone else — "a group of Italians" — committed the murders, though police aren't buying his story.

ANDREW SCOTT

The man charged with fatally shooting two other men in Coolbaugh Township Park in August says someone else — "a group of Italians" — committed the murders, though police aren't buying his story.

The Monroe County District Attorney's Office has filed notice of its intent to seek the death penalty against Luis Vasquez, 28, of Pocono Summit, if he is convicted in the deaths of Bertoldo Velez, 55, and Joseph King, 38, both of Stroud Township.

At the end of a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Tobyhanna Magisterial District Judge Anthony Fluegel found prosecutors had presented sufficient evidence to send charges against Vasquez to trial in county court.

Velez loaned people money, and Vasquez owed him money, according to testimony. Vasquez said he owed Velez $10,000, though police said they learned it was closer to $20,000.

Vasquez, who said he had been paying off the debt little by little, said he was supposed to meet Velez at the park the night of Aug. 16 to pay some more.

A police officer on patrol the next morning found the victims' bodies, both shot multiple times, in and next to Velez's car in the park. Velez's head also had been smashed with a rock.

Vasquez told police a group of Italians approached him about a week prior to the murders and asked him if he knew Velez, according to police testimony.

Vasquez said he told the Italians "yes." They then told him: "You'll be hearing from us again."

Vasquez told police the Italians returned on the night of the murders, had him get into their vehicle and then blindfolded him while three of them got into his vehicle and drove off, according to testimony.

He said the three returned with his vehicle about two hours later and that they then let him go and told him, "Just be glad the beef isn't with you."

Police testified a note written in Spanish was found on Velez's body at the scene. The note read to the effect of, "You thought you could hide, but we found you," First Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso said after the hearing.

Mancuso said Vasquez's story about the Italians isn't supported by the evidence.

Wednesday's hearing was marked by heavy security.

Pocono Mountain Regional Police officers, all wearing bullet-proof vests with one officer carrying a rifle, arrived and brought Vasquez into the courtroom through a rear entrance.

Members of the victims' and Vasquez's families then entered the courtroom in separate groups and filled the seating area to the rear of Fluegel's small courtroom.

King's girlfriend, Tara Lynch, sat with their son — who was just two weeks old when King was killed — in her lap as Police Patrol Officer Derek Chaffee and Detective Chris Boheim sat nearby, behind Vasquez and his attorneys.

Vasquez, who speaks only Spanish, remained expressionless throughout the hearing, listening to a bilingual interpreter.

Chaffee testified to being on patrol at 2:38 a.m. Aug. 17 and finding Velez's and King's bodies. Detective John Bohrman testified that police learned from the victims' families that Velez had loaned people money, that King had been his bodyguard and that Vasquez had owed Velez money.

However, Lynch contacted the Pocono Record after the hearing and said King was not Velez's bodyguard, but merely his friend.

"Bertoldo drove Joe to and from work every day," Lynch said. "That's why they were together in Bertoldo's car that night."

Richard LaBar testified he was working on a house in Vasquez's development Sept. 4, more than two weeks after the murders.

LaBar said he was walking on Vacation Lane when he spotted a black bag in a ditch, which police later found to be 75 to 100 yards from Vasquez's home on Thunder Drive. He said he dumped the bag's contents out onto the ground and found a .45-caliber handgun, sneakers, pants, a shirt and gloves.

Found at the murder scene were shell casings similar to those fired from a .45-caliber handgun, Boheim said.

LaBar said he put the gun in his vehicle to keep it away from any children, drove to the security gate and called 911 to report what he had found.

Detective Richard Luthcke testified that the bag's contents, along with the shell casings and rock found at the scene, were tested for forensic evidence at the state police crime lab.

DNA found on a white cloth glove matched Vasquez's and DNA found on both the outside of a latex glove and a blood stain on the pants matched Velez's, while DNA found on both the inside of the latex glove and blood stains on the rock matched both men's, Luthcke said.

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